Applying the maximum principle of optimal control that is widely used in the theories of endogenous growth to the decentralized market, this project will study how, under the consideration of transaction costs, producers and consumers choose the optimal degree of production roundaboutness and determine the growth rate of the economy. The purposes of the project can be viewed from two respects: 1. From the view point of growth theory, the project studies how the combined effect of production widening, i.e. learning by doing effect caused by social production capacity, and production deepening, i.e. economies of division of labor caused by higher degree of production roundaboutness, improve the productivity of production and thus create the possibility of permanent growth. 2. The project also emphasizes the important role of transaction costs, as the new institutionalism having highlighted, in the determination of optimal production roundaboutness, in contrast to that tradition concentrating how the organization from for transaction is chosen. We shall start with an one-sector model in which the knowledge of production is available freely, and show that the optimal degree of production roundaboutness depends on the rate of transaction cost. Next, in an extended two-sector model in which the technology of roundabout production can be invented only through investing scarce resource, we shall demonstrate how the path of transitional dynamics leads the economy to its steady state that reveals permanent growth.

In recent years, the men's fashion magazine has become a new media genre that attracts lots of attention. The sales, advertisements, and publications of the men's fashion magazine have reached a remarkable performance. Most important of all, men's fashion magazines not only provide the male readers with content about appearance beauty but also mold the male readers into a new kind of masculinity called ¡¥New Man¡¦. The ¡¥New Man¡¦ masculinity means that men can feel more comfortable to take some gender practices to improve their appearance beauty, such as putting on make-up, applying skincare products and so on. Researches about men's fashion magazine in Taiwan mostly focus on market performance, and the notion and practice of male readers are ignored. This present study drawn on the audience in everyday life theory, also employed the masculinity theory based on the sociologist R. W. Connell and the view of fluid identity (multiple subjectivities) based on the poststructuralist feminists. This study applied a methodology of qualitative in-depth interview with 6 male participants, tried to find the relation between men¡¦s fashion magazine and everyday gender practices of the readers. The study found that when the male readers interpret the ¡¥New Man¡¦ image in the men's fashion magazine, they do negotiate the mainstream masculinity discourse in their everyday life. Their negotiation involves their unequal investment in multiple subjectivities in everyday life. The study also found that men's fashion magazine is a text that can mediate the masculinity discourse, so the everyday gender practices of readers regarding the magazine text are their negotiation of masculinity as well. The male readers read men's fashion magazine and take ¡¥New Man¡¦ gender practices (ex. applying skincare products, putting on make-up, and taking care of figure) to create their own unique masculinity which exclude from femininity. In conclusion, the new version masculinity (New Man) does overlap the old one (mainstream or traditional masculinity), which not only shows the diversity of masculinity but also provide the male readers with some space to exert their agency and negotiate the meaning of ¡¥what it means to be a male¡¦.

<p>Studien undersöker hur kvinnliga chefer inom offentlig sektor upplever sina möjligheter och hinder i karriären . Kvinnor i maktposition har motsägelsefulla roller vilket i sig kan upplevas som ett dilemma.</p><p>Sex kvinnor på höga chefspositioner inom en offentlig sektor i Sverige deltog. Intervjuer genomfördes med en semistrukturerad intervjuguide baserad på följande områden: struktur, interaktion, individrelatering och symboler. Intervjuguidens struktur och analysen av intervjuerna baserades på en könsteoretisk modell enligt doing gender perspektiv. Doing gender perspektivet användes för att beskriva de praktiker som var av betydelse för den maktstruktur som fanns i organisationen.</p><p>Analysen av de könsskapande processer som påvisades i organisationen, visade att det främst var värdering av kunskap, värdering av kvinnligt och manligt ledarskap och förutsättningarna för att utföra ledarskapet som utgjorde hinder eller möjligheter för kvinnornas karriär. Organisationen, med dess konserverade hierarkiska system, var också en barriär för kvinnorna.</p>

Barnmorskor har historiskt sett förknippats med kvinnor, kvinnor som ville hjälpa andra kvinnor med sina förlossningar. Detta yrke har sedan dess kallats för att vara ett yrke där de anställdas vilja att arbeta kommer från motivet att hjälpa andra, ett kall till yrket. Låga löner och dålig arbetsmiljö har barnmorskor i media vittnat om i dagsläget, och barnmorskor avslutar sin anställning på grund ut av detta. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur fem barnmorskor upplever sina arbetsvillkor utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Ett intresse att försöka förstå om de intervjuades arbetsvillkor påverkas utav det faktum att arbetsmarknaden är könssegregerad och barnmorskeyrket är klassats som ett typiskt kvinnoyrke. Det finns idag lite forskning om hur barnmorskor upplever sina arbetsvillkor, och denna studie hoppas kunna bidra med information som kan vara till nytta vid vidare forskning. Det empiriska materialet utgår från tematiska intervjuer med fem arbetade barnmorskor i Stockholms län, två arbetade idag med förlossning och tre arbetade med mödravård. Resultatet visade att det fanns så väl positiva som negativa arbetsvillkor inom yrket, det positiva innehöll karriärmöjligheter, självständighet och ansvar. Viljan och glädjen att arbeta som barnmorska verkade väga upp för de sämre villkoren i yrket, vilket antydde att det fortfarande rådde någon form av kall till yrket. Mer negativt såg man på lönen och den höga arbetsbelastning som förkommit på förlossningsmottagningar. Resultatet visade tydligt att alla intervjuade ansåg att lönen var för låg, och löneutvecklingen behövde även den förnyas. Stress och överbelastning var några av de beskrivningar som det intervjuade berättade om förlossningsvården. Med hjälp av genusteorier visar analysen på att det fanns tendenser som antyder att yrket värderas lägre än andra yrken på grund av den rådande könssegregeringen på arbetsmarknaden och på grund av att yrket betraktas som ett kall.

This comparative study of the experiences of gay HIV positive men living in urban and rural areas explores the dynamic interrelationship between lived experience and service provision. The literature in this field has drawn on a familiar stereotype - the urban, sexually active, gay man. This man - and his community - does not exist in a rural environment in the way it is assumed nor does it necessarily fit the experience of gay men in London. By creating a link between the questions of subjectivity and the question of how we improve services, I argue that a mechanistic construction of need may follow an assumed urban model which may not hold for all men in an urban setting, nor for men in rural areas. Gay HIV positive men are faced with new psycho-social dilemmas in relation to the virus, including unpredictability of outcome, as well as the complexity and burden of the current treatment. They engage in a constant process of renegotiating their sense of themselves in space, time and relationships. Through the use of narrative methodology, my research builds a new perspective on the experience of these individuals which can help to shape the services and policies of the future. The stories of 21 gay HIV positive men were gathered and analysed in relation to five areas of focus: community/space, relationships, identity, health and services. Rural participants were less able to build and maintain a politically strong identity and rural services need to create strategies to enable gay men to draw on the strength of a collective voice. 'Doing for' services, prevalent in rural areas, may be appropriate for the very ill but can perpetuate a culture of helplessness. The healthist discourse adopted by London services promotes individualism and responsibility. Services for HIV positive men in all areas need to hold the dynamic between 'doing for' services for the sick and dying and a healthist discourse for those who can look to their future.

This study sets out to explore the critical factors of knowledge management (KM) that impact on the organizational performance of Chinese enterprises. It attempts to investigate the relationships among KM factors including KM strategy, KM enablers (Organizational culture, Organization structure, People, and Technology), KM processes, and organizational performance. The conceptual framework of knowledge management guiding this research is developed from prior research (Alavi, 1997; Davenport, 1999; Lam, 2000; Leonard-Barton, 1995; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Ramireza nd Dickenson, 2006; Zack, 1999). Previous KM research in the Chinese context has focused on the use of object-perspective measures such as number of created ideas or patents. There appears to be a relative neglect of the relationships between those KM factors. This research focused on exploring the relationships between those KM factors and investigating how they impact on organizational performance in the context of an emerging economy - China. This research adopted the mixed-methods (Creswell, 2003) methodological approach, which involved the use of qualitative and quantitative methods in addressing the research questions raised in this study. The results of this research suggest that organizational culture variables are found to be essential for knowledge creation. In particular, trust is a significant predictor of all knowledge creation processes. The findings of this study confirm that enterprises will be able to obtain strategic benefits of KM through effective knowledge creation processes. The research findings also imply that companies should align their knowledge strategies along with knowledge creation processes. The key to understanding KM in the Chinese context is recognizing the networking nature of the Chinese society which operates on the basis of "Guanxi". In Chinese enterprises, the socialization and externalization elements are remarkably similar to the Japanese situation that Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) described, as the Chinese are highly networked, hold tacit knowledge within these networks and are prepared to make this knowledge explicit only within the context of these pre-existing relationships. The departmental focus of Chinese enterprises mean that the combination of tacit knowledge is not straightforward, while learning-by-doing is important to sustain their development. The research also indicates that internalization is also problematic in Chinese enterprises because of individuals' fear of admitting mistakes. The implication of the findings for knowledge management and research is discussed.

促進競爭是文獻中解釋分購的理由之一，競爭的程度由參與供應商的數目決定，以供應商的家數作參數。我建立一個兩期的模型，用「從做中學」的效果，將競爭的程度用成本結構的差異大小來表現，成本結構差異越大，競爭越激烈，透過模型讓競爭的程度由購買者內生控制。希望透過這一個簡單的模型檢視當廠商數目固定時，購買者會否在考量控制供應商的成本相似下採用分購策略。雖然發現在我模型的設定中，購買者考量兩期之下一定選擇不採用分購策略，但是，仍能發現只考量第二期的購買價格下促進競爭的確是購買者採用分購的原因之一。

I use a mixed methods, qualitative approach to explore whether individuals become so invested in an organization that they engage in impression management to influence others’ perceptions of the organization. Additionally, I aim to reveal impression management strategies in an environment that is explicitly gendered in a transformative manner. I use roller derby as a case study because it is a rare example of a single-sex dominated organization that is voluntary and explicitly aims to be transformational of the current gender system.

This essay examines gender norms and how gender is understood in Deborah Feldman’s novel Unorthodox released 2012. Any connections made by the author between gender and religion are explored and Feldman’s exiting process from the Hasidic community is analyzed. This is done using a close reading and a qualitative content analysis of the novel. West and Zimmerman’s theory Doing gender has been used to provide an understanding of gender and to analyze the results of the content analysis. The results show that the predominant gender norms for men portrayed in this novel were that men have a superior position and are expected to exercise their power over women. They are also expected to be intellectual scholars of Jewish scripture and law. The predominant gender norms for women were that they should be modest, quiet, unassuming and are expected to obey and serve their men. Feldman’s exiting process happens in stages, where she questioned her Hasidic community more over time, and broke more rules as time went on. Her faith in god was effected in this process.  It becomes clear that the norms and rules she is expected to follow are products of people’s interpretations of religion and not a result of the religion itself.

Syftet med denna studie är att berika bilden och innebörden av faderskap. Studien undersöker svenska fäder som lever i heterosexuell parrelation samt arbetar i mansdominerade arbetarklassyrken där kroppen används som främsta verktyg. I denna kvalitativa intervjustudie redogörs för dessa fäders livsvärld med fokus på faderns upplevelser av familjens och arbetsplatsens olika krav och föreställningar om faderskap och hur detta antingen sammanfaller eller kontrasterar faderns egna idéer om faderskap samt hur fäderna hanterar eventuella konflikter av ideal. Genom Connells maskuliniteter och West och Zimmermanns doing gender analyseras fädernas utsagor för att få en förståelse över vilka val som ses som möjliga gällande faderskap i förhållande till arbetsplatsen och i parrelationen. Resultaten tyder på att fäderna upplever att de har en frihet att agera i sitt faderskap i gemenskap med sin partners. De upplever också att förväntningarna på dem som fäder är rimliga trots att de möter visst motstånd och motstående ideal av maskuliniteter från både kollegor och chefer på arbetsplatsen. Resultaten visar även en vilja av jämställdhet i förhållande till omsorg för barnen samtidigt som vissa områden gällande hem, barn och arbete är starkt präglade av genusordningar och genusgörande praktiker. / <p>2021-06-03</p>